Fever
by Gouki3
Summary: [One Shot] Josie decides to take care of Vaughn when she discovers he's sick... and uses this as a chance to get an 'Easy A' in science.


Vaughn sat on the end of his bead swaying slightly from side to side. He made some groaning sounds as he put on one shoe. Slowly. On the wrong foot. He wiped a small line of sweat off his forehead, and groaned some more.  
  
He heard a knock at the door. Josie wanted to know if he'd burnt those CDs yet. He couldn't keep them from her forever! When he didn't answer, she jimmied open the door. A triumphant grin on her face which was soon replaced by a sympathetic look.  
  
"Hey," Vaughn muttered weakly.  
  
"You're sick." Not a question of course.  
  
Josie walked over to him and pushed him back down onto the bed. She bent down and pulled his shoe off with much effort. "This was on the wrong foot. And the shoelaces were through the wrong holes," she told him as she tossed it away carelessly.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
She stared down at him. "You're sick. I'm going to look after you. And you're not going anywhere."  
  
"But I—"  
  
"Take off your shirt," she demanded cutting him off.  
  
His eyes opened to the normal size for just a moment, before returning to their half-closed state. "What?" He asked, just as weakly.  
  
"I don't have time for this, Vaughn," she snapped as she started to take off his shirt herself.  
  
"Really, you don't have to do this," he pleaded.  
  
"Well I'm going to, so forget that," she replied.  
  
When she had taken off his shirt, she looked at him for a moment before grabbing a blanket and tossing it over him. "Sleep." A command, not a suggestion.  
  
Why is she being so bossy? He wondered, somehow making sense of the thought's stomping through his brain, before he fell asleep almost instantly.  
  
Josie stood around for a moment. She really hadn't planned on staying here, but Vaughn was sick and would mean she could burn the CDs herself. She turned on his computer and waited for it startup. While it was starting, a thought bounded through her mind.  
  
A grin forming on her face as she searched through his desk for a spare book. When she found one, she noted down something's about Vaughn and his condition—all the while thinking, Easy 'A!'—before leaving some space for 'results' and closing the book.  
  
She bounced over to the heater and turned it up as high as it could go. "Let's see how he reacts to extreme heat..." She said to herself taking off her jacket.  
  
After a few minutes, he—and Josie as well—had begun to sweat a lot. She monitored his reactions to the heat on his body. "Interesting..." She muttered as he kicked the blanket to the floor as he tossed around in his sleep.  
  
She walked over to him and sat on the bed next to him, running her hand over his body. She leaned in closer. Before pulling up wiping the sweat off her own forehead. He muttered something in his sleep. The heat was making it worse, which wasn't really surprising but she was able to make it seem surprising in her writing.  
  
Bored with the heat, she turned it down, waiting for him to wake up. To fill in the time, she burnt her CDs and kept thinking about him shirtless—she'd had to cover him back up to stop herself from continuously looking at him—she looked at her watch.  
  
A couple of hours had gone by. Corrine would be angry she hadn't shown up for their talk/meeting/get together thing they'd planned. Marshall and Lucas had want to make up some kind of excuse if they see her. Not that they really know about it.  
  
Finally, Vaughn awoke. "I feel worse." He muttered.  
  
"You aren't going to throw up, are you?" Josie asked, more concerned about herself than him.  
  
He shook his head slightly.  
  
"Good," she said, suddenly brighter. "Are you hungry?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good," she repeated. "Now, is there anything else you want me to do? Any music you want playing or anything? When did you get sick anyway? It wasn't that thing you cooked was it?"  
  
"No... I've felt sick the last couple of days, it just kind of..." he stopped for a moment. "Crept up on me."  
  
"With what, a sledge hammer?" Josie said sarcastically, fixing herself a drink. "Anyway, I'm going to help you get better."  
  
~*~  
  
Over the next few days Josie stayed at Vaughn's side, experimenting on him as well as 'helping him' recover. He didn't seem to pick up on the fact he wasn't getting any better though. Picture a montage, okay: charming music/80's power cord, various scenes of Josie looking smart, Josie looking mischievous, Vaughn looking sick, Vaughn with no shirt, Vaughn sleeping, Josie writing things down, and so on. It's all very charming.  
  
"Alright," Josie announced to herself. "That's everything done I guess... he can get better now..." She felt slightly guilty about using him this way, but that thought of Easy 'A' kept coming back up. He could probably benefit from it as well. Then there was the whole I-have-power-over-you-you-owe-me- a-favor thing.  
  
Josie threw her book down and started cleaning up. She wondered how everyone else was handling this assignment. God knows what Marshall and Lucas was doing together. Corrine was probably making some discovery about... hell, Josie didn't know, or care. With this, she would upstage everyone!  
  
She looked out the window. "Three days... I wonder if he'll want to..."  
  
~*~  
  
Corrine was looking for Josie and stopped by Marshall and Lucas's room, impatiently knocking on the door. She could hear laughter from the inside and heated discussion about the state of science fiction movies and books at the moment.  
  
It stopped when Marshall opened the door. "Corrine, hey, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Josie was meant to come with me as a reference of sorts for a music festival audition," she told him. "I haven't seen her since last night.  
  
"Hasn't she been busy lately with her science assignment? Studying the effects on rapid climate and environment change on the immune system?" Marshall asked as he let Corrine in.  
  
"So she says. But, this started when she went to Vaughn's to go get her CDs burnt."  
  
Lucas turned away from the computer. "Let me get this straight, Josie went to Vaughn's one morning. She didn't come back for hours and has been going back for stupidly longs amounts of time ever since?"  
  
Corrine nodded.  
  
"Even I can guess what's going on." He glared at Marshall before he could say something. "And it's not got anything to do with alien invasion." He added quickly, "this time."  
  
"Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm late. I've got a backup," she said quickly. "So if you see Josie, tell her I was looking for her. Bye!"  
  
Corrine walked out of the room and left the boys alone again.  
  
"So what do you think her assignment is?" Marshall asked.  
  
"I don't really care," Lucas admitted. "Should we go see Josie and Vaughn?"  
  
"You sure? Who knows what we'll walk in on..." Marshall muttered.  
  
Lucas shrugged in response. "You jealous?"  
  
"Alright, let's go," Marshall replied stiffly.  
  
Marshall and Lucas walked to Vaughn's room slowly, talking about how they'd react if they saw something embarrassing. Marshall and Lucas may have become more than friends lately, but Josie was still a sore spot for him.  
  
The door was opened slightly, so they entered and saw Josie dancing around to her music while Vaughn slept. Lucas went to laugh, until Marshall elbowed him sharply and made a 'shh' sign with his finger. Josie continued to dance, spinning around to face the two boys, much to their amusement.  
  
"Gah!" She cried. "What are you two doing here?"  
  
"We were bored and Corrine was looking for you."  
  
"Why isn't she here then?"  
  
"Some music festival thing," Marshall replied.  
  
A pained look crossed Josie's face. She'd completely forgotten about that. "I was busy taking care of Vaughn," she snapped, to make herself feel better.  
  
"He's sick?" Lucas asked monotone, not really caring.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Marshall grabbed the workbook of Vaughn's desk. He began reading out loud. "'The limits of the human immune system when subjected to extremities.' You're experimenting on Vaughn?"  
  
"Yes, but only because of one thing; Easy 'A!'" She replied happily. "I did plan on taking care of him. Helping along our sparking. And then I just got the idea."  
  
"Cool."  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You don't care?"  
  
"Not really," he replied.  
  
Lucas was circling around Vaughn now, looking at him closely, and inspecting his illness.  
  
"Guy's, can you do me a huge favor?"  
  
Lucas was hesitant. "Maybe..."  
  
"I just need you to look after Vaughn for a while. I've got to go pick up some things."  
  
She was gone before Lucas could say no.  
  
Lucas raised his eyebrow at Marshall who just shook his head in response. He went to look through Vaughn's computer when Vaughn's arm shot up and grabbed him by the wrist. Lucas let out a cry and tried to jump back slightly.  
  
"Josie?" Vaughn asked quietly. He didn't bother to open his eyes. "Josie I think I need to tell you something..."  
  
Lucas's eyes widened as Vaughn said this. "Marshall!"  
  
"Just play along," he said slightly amused. "He's completely out of it. He doesn't know what he's saying."  
  
Lucas grumbled something in agreement and tried his best to imitate Josie. "Uh, what Vaughn?" He desperately wanted to add a smart arse remark onto the end of it, but managed not to. "I'm listening." On the plus side, he did have dirt on Josie if all went according to plan.  
  
Vaughn pulled him in closer. "I just wanted to tell you... I mean... you've taken care of me these past few days... and I... I know I was asleep most of the time... but..."  
  
"Get on with it," Lucas cracked in his Josie-voice.  
  
"I feel like I've gotten better or maybe worse... no, better," he continued. "Thanks to you, and I just... I just wanted to say that... I... L—L—love you."  
  
Lucas's eyes were struggling to get any wider "I—I—I—I..." he stammered.  
  
Vaughn grabbed what he assumed to be Josie's shirt and pulled Lucas down close. He covered Lucas's lips with his own. The kiss was warm, despite Lucas's lack of enthusiasm. He stood there, letting Vaughn do all the work.  
  
Vaughn pulled away slowly. "Your lips are warm." He let Lucas step back stunned. "Thanks, how do you feel?"  
  
Lucas wasn't sure how Josie would feel. He could guess, but would it be wise to lie through his teeth. He shrugged the thoughts away. "I feel the same way."  
  
Lucas heard Josie enter the room holding a sheet of paper.  
  
"What happened?" She asked the grinning Marshall, after looking at the pale Lucas.  
  
"Nothing," he replied signaling to Lucas they should leave. "We'll see you later Josie. Tell Vaughn to get better."  
  
"He should be by tomorrow or the day after," she said as they left.  
  
Josie sat next to Vaughn and ran her hand through his hair. "How are feeling?"  
  
"Better. About before..." He trailed off when he only heard silence. "Nevermind."  
  
~*~  
  
Lucas walked around the school hall's trying to find Josie. He needed to tell her about what happened when Vaughn kissed him because he'd thought he was Josie. And what he'd said in return—for some reason it was the focus of his thoughts. He glanced around the hall, seeing people snicker as he went past or give him strange looks.  
  
He was able to ignore most of them—what, with being used to it and all—and found Marshall sitting at a table a broad smile on his face. Money was changing hands. The grin indicated to his hands. He was selling some kind of photos.  
  
"Thanks," he said as he sold another. "Don't forget; no returns, refunds or discounts! This is a quality product that everyone should own!" He called out. "Hey, Lucas, uh, what are, erm, doing here?" Lucas noticed his tone was suddenly guilty.  
  
"I'm actually looking for Josie... what are you selling? This doesn't look like your usual technology scam-thingo," Lucas asked curious.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?"  
  
"I'm not going to answer that on the basis that possibly," Marshall deadpanned. "I'm just selling some, uh, artworks."  
  
Lucas reached in to grab one until Marshall pushed his hand away and sold another one. This time Lucas got a good look at the artworks. It was a photo of Vaughn kissing him!  
  
"How could you?" Lucas yelled.  
  
Marshall ignored the question until he'd pocketed the money and watched the customer walk away. "Calm down, Lucas. This is just a bit of profit making. I'll cut you in."  
  
"Vaughn will kill you," Lucas warned.  
  
"No he won't."  
  
"I will."  
  
"No you won't."  
  
Lucas knew he couldn't win this argument this way. He had a backup plan. "Then I'll have to get those photo's developed. You know the ones I'm talking about? They're of you. In your underwear. With handcuffs. And my bunny ears."  
  
Marshall looked around for a few seconds before coming to a decision. "I'll be good," he said quickly and quietly, quickly putting the 'artwork' back into a folder and taking down the 'Art sale' sign. He placed the last bit of cash in a safe and walked back to the room without a sound.  
  
~*~  
  
Josie had a sheepish grin on her face when she entered Vaughn's room. She was pleased that he was almost back to normal. Still a bit off, but not much. She carried with her one of Marshall's artworks. Confused by it, but intrigued.  
  
"You look better."  
  
He smiled. "I know."  
  
"Do you feel well enough to go running around tackling people?" She asked.  
  
"No, not yet, maybe tomorrow."  
  
She sat down next to him. "I've been sitting on your bed a lot lately," she murmured. Then she brightened and handed Vaughn the artwork. "This is from Marshall."  
  
He took it and let his eyes focus on the image. Josie stepped back slightly; fearing his eyes would pop out of his head. "I'll kill him..." He choked out eventually.  
  
"No you won't," she warned him.  
  
"It wasn't you I kissed, it was Lucas?" He asked, more just to confirm what he already knew. "He kisses nice."  
  
"Am I better?" Josie asked, moving so that she lay over him. She saw the worry in his eyes "Don't worry, I just want a kiss."  
  
She kissed him softly on the lips, just long enough to make Vaughn happy. When she broke the kiss, she pulled back looking into his eyes. He moved his hand behind her head, and pulled her towards his lips.  
  
He covered her mouth with his and let the fire envelop them. Josie didn't want the kiss to end and deepened it, slipping her tongue into his mouth and massaging it. She moved her hands under his shirt and began rubbing his back.  
  
Finally Vaughn broke the kiss—much to their disappointment—and looked at her wordlessly for just a moment.  
  
"I think you're the better kisser," he said gently. Vaughn took her hand in his. "What I told you, I mean, Lucas, I mean... what I said was... I love you. When Lucas was pretending to be you, he said he felt the same way. Do you—"  
  
"Yes," she confirmed. "I think I'd like to... if you'd still like to..."  
  
Vaughn nodded. "I'll take care of you when you get sick," he promised her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.  
  
Easy 'A!' Josie thought as she let the warmth fill her body. 


End file.
